Still only babies. It's amazing how fast they grow, although seeing how big they have to eventually get it is understandable.

I keep thinking all of my unimaculata are female but then it's so hard to tell when they are still small and don't have full adult colouration.

It's always exciting when they get their ventrals in. Although it's never happened, there's always this fear with me that I am going to end up with fry that have no ventrals and I hate how unbalanced those fish look.

Got these photos of my new macrostoma female and their tank. Male is a bit clamped up and shy so going to be buying more plants to make him feel more secure. They also aren't full size yet by a long shot so have to fatten them up.

The fish in the breeders' net is my unimaculata male. He is waiting for me to divide up another one of my tanks.

Thanks. Male was stunning when I went down last night and he was asleep so fully coloured up and unclamped. Oh well, just will have to wait until he matures a bit more and settles in.

I have so far managed to keep alive the newly free-swimming burdigala fry. Unfortunately, they are only in around 1L of water so I am going to be slowly dripping water in over the next few days to try and get it up a bit as otherwise my heater won't be submersed.

Amazed they made it this far. They have already had a water change (not to mention the fact I had to suck them up with a turkey baster to move them all when they were only a few days old) and I was expecting to only get a couple to survive.

I think just slow and steady is going to be the way to go here. Dad has more eggs in his nest so hopefully since they are not too far apart in age I can rear all the fry up together.

Muhahaha. You will have to admire them from afar. Plus I only have one pair and they are my mum's so I couldn't trade them anyway.

I think they are making my hair grey though as they cost a couple hundred bucks and I kept worrying I am going to find macrostoma crisps on the floor one day.

I don't know what to do with my palangkarensis fry. They look to have consumed their yolk sacs but are still up in the nest. I am not sure whether to remove them now or wait until they are a bit older.

Only thing is if I wait until they are free-swimming on their own I just know I am never going to be able to find half of them because the leaf litter is so thick.

In case you did not know all bettas are labyrinth fish meaning they get air from our atmosphere so keep some air in those tanks also sucking them up can be dangerous because of them being air breathers so be careful about doing this ok people.Posted via Mobile Device

Are you talking to me or just in general? I am aware of the care requirements of bettas as I do keep and breed several species of them.

I've sucked probably every single one of my fish up a siphon or airline tube at least once in their life. None are the worse for wear. I don't do it on purpose but sometimes that's the only way I can pull fry out of a tank with minimal stress.